Szechuan Chili Chicken 辣子鷄, Couple’s Delight 夫妻肺片, Mouth Watering Chicken 口水鷄 and Braised Spicy Beef 水煮牛肉 are the four dishes I ordered the most whenever hitting a Szechuan restaurant. If you can never go wrong with them, if you do.. you are in the wrong place. Usually Szechuan Chili Chicken is deep-fried first before stir frying with chili peppers, for our health, sharing an air-fry version here!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- coat chicken with 1-2tbsp corn starch while marinating, would give the little crispy coat when air-frying
- do not air-fry too long, the chicken would be crispy but dry
- do not stir-fry the spices, especially dried chili peppers over high heat for too long, it could get bitter when burnt
RECIPE
- 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, slice into bite-size chunks
- 2tbsp soy sauce
- 1-2tbsp rice wine
- 1tsp salt
- 1/4tsp white/black pepper
- 1-2tbsp corn starch
- 1tbsp oil
- a few chili peppers (serrano pepper, jalapeno, etc.)
- a bunch of dried chili pepper, cut each into few pieces with scissors
- 1-2tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
- 5-10 slices of ginger
- a few cloves of garlic, smash or slice
- 1tbsp oyster sauce (as needed)
- 1tsp sugar (optional)
- roasted sesame
STEP 1: cut chicken thigh into bite size, marinate with 2tbsp soy sauce, 1-2tbsp rice wine, 1tsp salt, 1/4tsp white/black pepper, mix well. At last coat with 1-2tbsp corn starch as the frying coat, then add 1tbsp oil to “seal” the marinate. Marinate at least 4 hours or overnight in fridge
STEP 2: cut up dried chili peppers, slice chili peppers, garlic, ginger, set aside
STEP 3: air-fry chicken chunks at 345F/180C for 20mins, flip them 2-3 times in between till the skin is golden and crispy. Let them sit for a while, sitting in air makes the skin slightly crispier.
STEP 4: over medium heat, add oil in pan, then add in “wet”, fresh spice–garlic, ginger and chili peppers, stir fry till garlic and ginger slices have slightly golden edge
STEP 5: add dried chili peppers, Szechuan peppercorn in the pan, stir fry till fragrance comes out. If chicken is not ready, turn off heat; if chicken is ready, add chicken in
STEP 6: stir fry chicken quickly, add 1tbsp oyster sauce if needed; add 1tsp sugar could also help enhance flavor
STEP 7: finally generously “pour” in roasted sesames as you wish and coat all chicken with sesame. Let them sit in pan after turning off heat could also bring out sesame’s fragrance
READY TO SERVE!
Anecdote at Dinner:
- roasted cauliflower (spice level: I)
- Szechuan Chili Chicken (spice level: II)
- pre-made Lanzhou Spicy Noodle Package (spice level: III)
Me: which one is the spiciest??
Partner: ??? what did you say?? (in sweat, tear) I can’t tell! ALL SPICY! I just want ice cream and milk tea!!
Honestly they are all really spicy tonight that I actually think the diluted, 1/2 spicy noodle soup base is the spiciest! After all, I didn’t go crazy and add the same amount of dried chili peppers as restaurants do!
